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Monday, December 31, 2012

In her final article of the year, DrFran Babcock takes a look at some of Second Life diners. One might ask since avatars don't (usually) need to eat, what good is a diner? Well, people gather at them, and where there are diner's there's a jukebox, and music. So it's a good place to have a party, especially one with a classic rock n roll theme. DrFran looks at three diners, each with it's own special touches.

Time was in Second Life, you had the choice of going to a Linden-organized ball-drop if you didn't know of any community/club events. The times for the former are gone, but there are still a number of local events.

Today at 8AM SL time, Tribute City starts its eight hour New Year's Eve Party.

And at 6PM when things are closing in Tribute City, the party's just getting started at Little Dove. The high-flying steampunk zeppelin club holds it's New Year's Eve bash, with DJ Cynthia Farshore taking the helm, "I will be spinning the tunes till at least midnight SLT. That’s right a whooping 6 hours all for you. For the contest it’s not the same old baby or party clothes or …no this time we honor Father. As in The Best of Father Time or Mother if you’re fem. Come as the best haggard bent over old geezer you can dream up. Think back over the year and picture what he will feel like. The prize will be set at L$500 but it may actually go higher."

Friday, December 28, 2012

Today in her latest "Ask DrFran," Dr Fran Babcock answers a letter from a reader whose avatar suggests all is well. But in real life, she has a problem of which ever year she makes a New Year's Resolution to solve. So what's the problem, and what does DrFran have to say?

It had been a fairly typical day at the Podex Exchange in late December. Things were getting busier with more people coming in to get money to buy presents for friends. When the tellers had a moment to chat, they'd talk about the presents they themselves were giving to friends for Christmas, or Boxing day. They also talked about how some places had been winterized, and now had seasonal activities such as skating. And there were the Christmas events, as well as the occasional "anti-Xmas" party for those whom wanted to poke the sacrhine-sweet side of the holiday in the ribs.

But as the running joke went, the sure way to get a visitor was to start chatting. And it wasn't long before someone entered. He was fairly tall, with antlers and hooflike hands and feet. He wasn't wearing much, just shorts and a harness decorated in colored light bulbs, and a nose that glowed bright red.

The tellers starred at the newcomer, one asking, "Rudolph?"

The hooved visitor chuckled, "Heh, yes and no. I guess you can say I represent him here."

"Well, how can we help you?"

"Well, me and my eight friends started a business here, and were looking to trade our Lindens for dollars, or Euros in the case of a couple of the girls."

"Certainly Sir. As a Linden exchange service, we offer reasonable rates. I assume this is your first transaction?"

"It is."

"Well, there will be some delay in the transfer for security reasons, Sir, but we promise it will not be longer than 72 hours. With the second one, there shouldn't be a delay in the payments to your bank account or Paypal."

"Is there a limit to how much we can trade?"

"Thirty thousand Lindens per week for new clients. But after a month, it goes up to fifty thousand a day. You could of course ask us to see about increasing the limit sooner."

"Sounds reasonable enough."

"Excellent. If you would just sign this paperwork …"

The red-nosed customer was given a form to fill out, and he soon had it done.

"There you go. We'll soon have our first sales to trade in."

"If you don't mind my asking, Sir, just what is it you and your friends will be doing?"

"Oh, we're building vehicles. Not cars though. We're working on sleighs for horses, breedable and otherwise. Some wag did ask why didn't we pull them, but we just answered with our two legs, it would have to be a rickshaw."

They all had a good laugh, and the antlered client went off on his way.

The Podex Exchange is located at Moonbeam (26, 223, 34), with a website at http://www.podex.info/. Jacek Shuftan is the CEO.Note: The preceding is a fictional story, written for the dual purpose of advertisement and entertainment.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Athene Forder of "Goddess Apparel" informed Second Life Newser of an item at her store being sold for charity, to help with those affected by the recent school shooting in Conneticut.

This year, we have a lovely Avatar for you!

Holly has skin, eyes, shoes, hair, jewelry and a fab dress! Each designed by some of my friends, and very festive!

Last year, we donated proceeds to the Red Cross. This year, we are raising money for the Sandy Hook Community. Personally, I can not think of anything worse than having to bury my baby, except having to bury my baby and figure out to pay for it.

We can't change anything, but maybe we can make it just a bit easier for them. In addition, if you wish to donate more, please send a notecard to me (I am keeping track of the donations for the designer group) and pay me directly.

We already have a number of clubs and games who have graciously allowed for our vendor to be placed in their place of business. We will be collecting until new Years, and hope to post how much we were able to donate shortly after that.

So please, bring your friends, pick up your copy, have them pick up a copy. If you are a business/club owner, and wouldn't mind our vendor in your place, please let me or Dryad Falls know. If you have friends who are business/club owners who you think would like to be involved, have them contact me, because I have to admit, I would really like to make this a worthy donation.

A personal note from Dryad Fall: "Personally, many of you know until recently, I was a kindergarten teacher in CT...i'm several miles from Sandy Hook, but I promise you, this has hit me, and all my teacher friends with all the force of a bullet train. So I readily admit, this would mean a lot to me!"

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Perri Prinz, noted Second Life DJ and fiction writer, sent in this picture of a "Hello Kitty" build (snowkitty?) that's gotten the attention of a Dalek, one of the infamous robot villains from the "Dr Who" science-fiction show known for their cries of "Exterminate! Exterminate!" So why was the Dalek interested in the Japanese feline with a following among girls across Earth? Apparently only this opponent of Britain's favorite timelord knows, and he's not talking.

In their most recent blog post, Linden Lab "wanted to take a moment to highlight just a few of the ways in which Second Life has grown and improved over the past year." Among the things they talked about were "New Perks for Premium Subscribers," Direct Delivery for Marketplace, and the beginnings of Project Shinning, which the Lab states will lead to "a Faster, More Reliable Second Life."

What do you the readers think have been the ways Second Life has improved, or has it gotten worse? What has been the best, and worst this year has had to offer the residents?

I found two more enchanting skating sims. McDunnough’s Skating Rink has a
lovely ice castle and as you skate by if you enter there are dance balls too.
There are trick skating, solo, and couple pose balls. And if you still need free
skates there they are.

The trees and decorations are lovely . Warm your self by
the fire and have some hot chocolate. Pick up a snowball thrower and have a
fight. Take a ride on the ice carousel. Watch out for the giant snowman tossing
snowballs at the skaters constantly. Put it on your list of skating places to
visit. http://slurl.com/secondlife/McDunnough%20Island/183/90/21

Next stop is romantic Ocean Key Winter Wonderland Couples Ice Skating with
Santa. While I was skating I passed an intelligent polar bear reading the Sl
Newser. Take picture on Santa’s lap while surrounded by teddy bears and elves.
Santa has a snow ball thrower there for you too. A singing elf will entertain
you if you tickle him.The ballroom is visible from the skating rink and looks
divine. In the sky I saw some private dancing areas too.

This is an
extensive area with many places to visit so I will be going back to check out
the twelve tp locations including shopping... my downfall! Start
here and watch out for the penguins! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ocean%20Key/178/192/21
I am still on the lookout for more skating areas for you . Winter is just
beginning!

It's Christmas! And it's the last week of the year. 2012 finally comes to a close this week about a week after we unwrap the presents under our virtual trees. It's a last chance to see some holiday events before Santa packs up and heads up to the North Pole for another year. And of course we have our regularly scheduled events from Live and DJ music parties, to book and poetry readings, to races, to talk shows, and church services.

Christmas comes to the Grid, and a number of places have been
winterized for the occasion. SL Newser has gone over a number, such as Areo Pines, but there are others.

Here's the house of Jasmine and I, winterized and decorated for the occasion. Jasmine took care of the details going all out. Even the plants have snow on them. And we didn't forget the Christmas trees.

HV Community and the Sunweaver sims have also been made to look more seasonal, though not everyone is completely happy, "You wouldn't like it either if you had to shovel the stuff in real life," a couple told me. But most were happy. The community store also began offering discounts for those wearing the HV Community tag.

"Games, snow, family friends, community, Can't ask for more."

Other communities have gotten winter looks as well. Luskwood, Second Life's oldest community, has been no exception, with the branches, and some of the lesser used platforms covered with snow, in addition to a small shack at one end. As usual, you can always find someone at the Big Tree at odd hours. And yes, the tree was decorated with ornaments and a star on top, but panning out, my computer began getting "low memory" warnings.

And last but not least Raglan Shire. This active community of Tinies doesn't get quite the attention it deserves. Checking the place, the nearest stores I checked out had a freebie "Christmas Present" for everyone. There was also an Xmas tree and fire nearby, and not far away a skating rink. The community had a few people here and there, though I dropped by between events. There is an ice sculpture sculpture contest, as well as various "Wootmas" celebrations. These little guys at the Shire just love the term 'woot,' in addition to having waffles at any excuse.

Across these and other places on the Grid, it's a great Christmas in Second Life.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Last month, Second Life Newser reported on CBS contacting Linden Lab and several merchants on Second Life Marketplace to get the latter to stop selling Star Trek content. Since then, there have been a couple more developments. There was a meeting among Trek fans to discuss the matter. Also, there was an announcement in a sci-fi group suggesting there would be no word from CBS for a while.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

This video from Pookmedia in 2009 was made to show the potential of machinima, but it was fun too, with a tiny surfer demonstrating size doesn't always matter with the babes on the beach.

"A concept in the making, taking place at the great surfing location,
Tsunami Beach. We crafted around the location with some typical surfers,
some not so typical surfers, the lifestyle and the beer they would
drink. Made for a targeted demographic."

As most readers probably know, December 21st was the day some thought the Mayan "Long Count" calendar, written centuries ago, was predicting the end of the world. Very few people took it seriously. A few people headed to ancient Mayan temples to pray. But for most people, the reaction was to just laugh. At most, some called it a reminder to live their lives more productively as one day each of us has our own personal "end of the world."

At about Noon, I checked out the broadcast of Science Friday. Among other science subjects, the radio show talked about the facts behind the Mayan Calandar, as well as the people around discussing them. Science Friday takes place every Friday from 11AM to 1PM at Science School (23, 203, 28).

A number of clubs celebrated with parties. Near the SL Newser building, the Cutlass Club in Sunweaver Space (245, 88, 123) held it's "End of the World" party at 6PM with people asked to take an a look appropriate for the Apocalypse, many appearing as winged angelic beings. I never changed mine as in real life, the Press no doubt would be there to cover it. Someone had a nuke hanging overhead, but the club remained standing at party's end.

At 7PM, the Steelhead Ballroom in Steelhead (74, 155, 26) held it's own "World's End" party, with Fuzzball Ortega DJing the tunes. The place was packed with a number of residents dancing away. In one corner, someone had placed a half-rusted plane's fusalage made into a disaster survivor's home. There were also a few Christmas trees in the corner, under the larger one a few residents had left some presents under the tree for all, including a clockwork birdie.

Among the song lyrics I heard were, "party at the end of the worrrrld!" and "When the world ends, who will have the last dance?" There was also "Marvin the Martin" muttering "Where's the kaboom?" Eventually Fuzzball had to stop when his track did, "The world may not have ended, but my two hours has."

It wasn't technically an "End of the World" event, though it did symbolize renewal. Club Fur, one of the oldest clubs in Second Life, was open again, with manager YuliaV acting as DJ that night. Inviting people over, she was joined by a number of partiers, including some from South of the Border, so a few freebie translators were passed around. Among those showing up was one micro-bunny, whom got a few complements on her apperance. The unique bunny hopped onto the DJ's booth, and danced away.

Yulia was going to play for only two hours, but more people kept coming, so she kept going.

Club Fur at Kitsuhana (136, 84, 2007) will be playing every Saturday at 8PM SL time.

It was a fun Friday night in Second Life, one in which the world, and the Grid, would keep on going.

Friday, December 21, 2012

DrFran's column today is a serious one, dealing with a serious subject that gets worse around the holidays. A reader writes about a friend whom has seemed increasingly troubled, and might have done the unthinkable.

It's been about a couple years since Bixyl Shuftan wrote on the WW2 Combat Roleplay. Two years later, the sims have gone through triumphs and troubles, but are still around. Recently, Grease Coakes took a look at the place to give his own observations.

If one believes the wild rumors about the Ancient Mayan "Long Count" Calendar, then the world may be coming to an end. The Steampunk community in Steelhead are a bit skeptical of such rumors of the planet going "bewm." But just in case, they're throwing one big party, their "Apocalypse" dance party, "Tensai is in charge... so you know it will be good."

Kid avatars, or "scamps" as they're known here, are welcome. There is also supposed to be "a very special guest appearance by a very special guest."

The event is scheduled to be at 7PM atSteelhead (74, 155, 26) , though is subject to change. DJ Fuzz will provide the tunes.

This is a reminder that bidding and buying some wonderful art pieces
for the benefit of SOS Children Village gives orphaned children in India a
place to live rather than on the streets. There are pieces by Ard
Schwartzman, Betty Tureaud, Bryn Oh, Eliza Wierwight, Eupalinos Ugajin, fiona
Blaylock, Giovanna Cerise, Haveit Neox, Igor Ballyhoo, Josiane Sorciere, Kicca
Igaly, Linus Humphreys,Lorin Tone, Melusina Parkin, Pallina60 Loon, Pol
Jarvinen, Rebeca Bashly, SaveMe Oh, Secret Rage, Shari Davies Rose Borchovski,
Trill Zapatero and Ub Yifu.

The auction will end on December 23, so try to get
there before then. It is set as a skating area where you can skate from item to
item and pick up information on each piece. Quan Lavender sent a reminder and I
am sorry to say I did not get here until Thursday. However the sale will
continue until January 22, so you will have a chance to purchase the remarkable
pieces.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

On Monday night, Dec 17th at 8PM, Club Mardi Gras held it's Grand Opening. About two dozen people showed up within a few minutes of the beginning. And on the open-air club's tiny floor, the place was a bit crowded, with over thirty avatars there at one point. The use of one's mini-map a necessity for getting around.

There was a variety of outfits there, from feathered Carnival girl to suits, and more. DJ Nydia entertained the crowd with a mix of tunes, including some Jazz music, which New Orleans is noted for.

5000 Lindens were up for grabs that night, with three pages of names on the board. The winners were KhaliTahnia, Ranchan Weidman, and Brandi Streusel.

Another skating place I came across you will like is Cold Comfort Base Camp in Jiminy. It is a frozen river where you will find a place to warm up around a fire and enjoy the Christmas Tree and scenery. This place is in the Snowlands area of the Sansara continent where it is always winter.

There is a nice lounge on the second floor of the building where you can sit and have a drink at the Mermaid Bar. Near the entrance you will find a horse and buggy that will take you for a nice ride down Amundsen Road and bring you back. There is also a balloon ride that takes you up the road in the opposite direction. A fun ride that gives you a great view of the snow covered mountains that range through several sims. I know there is skiing up there. It is a nice way to view regions from above and make note if you would like to go back to visit again. Bring along a friend to talk to as it is a long ride!

Cold Comfort is definitely worth a visit. at Jiminy (7, 47, 108). Take a trip over to the Matahari skating rink. There is an upper level tiny rink and also a lower level large rink where you will find some more free skates one box of which is called Vintage ice skates with animations that are very cute. They are created by Poppet McGimsie as an introduction to SL skating.

You can ride a winter carousel or try a sleigh on the ice. Ladies can pick up a very cute skating costume at the entrance to the Matahari Skate. For those who are really into iceskating, you have a change to get so many lovely outfits and skates and AO’s that I like very much.

This rink is in Toussaint where Tanya Matahari has “Matahari Leisure Complex at Toussaint - a great place to hang out - lots to do! Elite Sounds of Jazz dance club, Secret Grotto, beach, woodland swimming lagoon, balloon and helicopter rides, chairlift to Ice Rink Matahari - all year round winter in the sky!”

Grease Coakes recently returned to Racer Island, a sim devoted to racing with numerous tracks that he wrote on this fall. This time, he was invited to an awards show in formal dress. There, he got another look at the community behind the racing machines, in addition to meeting the Rookie of the Year, and hearing some announcements of the upcoming racing season.

On Monday Dec 17th, Jessica Lyon announced on the Phoenix-Firestorm blog that support for the Phoenix Viewer would soon come to a close. There had been a meeting Saturday the 15th in which the details were discussed. The news about the viewer support ending was first announced there. The reason: Linden Lab's plans for improving Grid performance in what they call "Project Shinning," which involves what the Second Life Wiki calls "Server side 'texture baking.'" For newer viewers the result will be less lag, at least according to Linden Lab. But for Viewer-1 based viewers, the result is what Oz Linden was quoted as saying "a world of gray, cloudy avatars."

"The clock is now ticking," Tonya Souther, the leader of Phoenix-Firestorm's Mac viewer development team, wrote in her blog, "We asked for at least two months' ntice, and yesterday we got that." She stated Linden Lab would like to bring the code active in February, but would work with Team Phoenix-Firestorm and other third-party viewer teams to make sure all have it and work it in before it finally arrives, "you will have to upgrade your viewer sometime in February or early March. No exceptions."

Oz Linden had made his intentions known months earlier in July, which Tonya commented put Viewer-1 viewers on "borrowed time … The loan is about to come due."

Jessica Lyon on the Phoenix-Firestorm website stated emphatically they were not trying to tell Phoenix users what to use, nor were they or Linden Lab blocking or actively stopping the Phoenix Viewer. But there were changes coming, and they had to change along with them. "I realize this decision will not be popular among our Phoenix users, and I apologize for that," but she asked users to read the facts, or watch the Office Hour video she made. before complaining.

In the speech she made, Jessica reminded Team Phoenix-Firestorm were volunteers, working without pay, whom liked helping people, being appreciated for it, and coding new features. They had created Phoenix more than two years ago in order for Second Life residents to keep using the features of the defunct Emerald viewer. But over time, it was becoming clear updating it with the Viewer 2 features was becoming increasingly difficult. So they created the Firestorm Viewer based on Viewer 2 technology. Continuing to work with the Phoenix Viewer was just simply becoming too difficult. "Can we keep it alive? Yes we can, but it would be a heck of a lot more work than it's worth." If someone wanted to "fork" the Viewer and develop it further themselves, they were free to do so. Though they knew of only "one or two copybot viewer developers" who were doing so.

Support for the Phoenix Viewer would officially cease on December 31, but they were creating a new "peer to peer support group" for those who still insist on using the viewer: "Phoenix Viewer Self Help." "It will largely be a group of Phoenix users helping Phoenix Viewers."

Tonya's comments to those whose computers couldn't use Firestorm or other Viewer 2 or Viewer 3 viewers: It was time to either upgrade their computers, or buy new machines, "Sorry, folks, but you will have to spend some money. There's no way around it."

Responses to both Jessica's announcement and Tonya's blog entry were mostly civil, even positive. Some responders called the move to halt Phoenix development "long overdue," happy to hear the team was free to concentrate solely on Firestorm. Some, mostly polite, stated they would be sticking with Phoenix for now saying Firestorm didn't work on their computers as well. A couple readers stated that they would be preparing to leave the Grid, one saying, "Thanks everyone on the Phoenix team, the best viewer I've ever used in my time in SL. I'm really grateful and appreciate all the hard (no-pay) work you have done over the years. … But everything has an end, and this will be mine."

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the Grid. There was events to be plenty, and places just splendid. Locations such as Glacier Island and London City offer a wide variety of Christmasy places and special events. And don't forget our regularly scheduled happenings from book and poetry readings, talk shows, races, DJ and live music parties, and church services.

On Sunday Dec 16th at 10 AM, the Avi Choice Awards took place. Sponsored by the Relay for Life Christmas Expo, the event took place where four of the five Xmas Expo sims met up. Elrik Merlin and Saffia Widdershins of "Designing Worlds" announced the winners.

Despite the extra room multiple sims offered, the event was extremely laggy, and many relied on SL TV footage to see. There were also complaints in Relay chat about people getting "bumped" and asked to leave. The event had also been rescheduled from Friday night due to the tragedy that day. So a number of people who won were not there to accept their awards.

Among those winning were the Builders Brewery for best group, Maximillian Kleene for best singer, Racer X's Giant Snail Races for favorite sporting event, and the Relay for Life as favorite event. Racer X said upon winning, "Just found out today that I was even nominated. So didn't get a chance to spam my friends into voting for me, so thank you all that did, that's really AMAZING!! Thank you all for your wonderful support ... we hope you all have as much fun watching the show as me, Tindy, Salem and Safra have making (it)."

The Steelhead community had several nominations, including Fuzzball Ortega for best DJ.

Yesterday at Noon, Second Life Newser held it's Xmas party, with the help of Nydia Tungsten whom offered to be the DJ. The event was originally going to be at Cova's Cove, but Covadonga Writer couldn't be there. So the event was moved to the beach near Nydia's home in Kitsuhana. There, she entertained the crowd with her set of Christmas tunes. Some classical, some a little twisted. When Grease Coakes showed up, she played DJ Shockwave's parody of "Grandmother Got Run Over by a Reindeer" that was a bit raunchy, "I'm sorry, but I just *had* to play this one. Hee hee!"

Other songs included "Christmas in Dixie," a "Married with Children" tribute to "The Night Before Christmas," "Trans-Siberian Orchestra," "Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire,"and more.

Due to schedule conflicts, the Newser staff couldn't be there all at once, but all of the active writers did show up: Grey Lupindo, Gemma Cleanslate, DrFran Babcock, and Grease Coakes. A number of friends showed up as well. Among those who did were DJ Qwark, Club Cutlass's manager Jenni Greenfield, Dayafter Productions owner Jessicabelle Dayafter, and Areo Pines Park owner Cindy Bolero. One little microfox friend dropped by whom I hadn't seen in a few years.